Getting ready to put a few chickens in the coop this spring. I've been reading a few good books, blogs, resource websites etc recently.

I came across a good reference workbook put together here in Alberta (rivercitychicken.org). I was surprised to read a section on Premises Identification. :

"Since January 1, 2009, under the Animal Health Act, all poultry owners are required by law to apply for a Premises Identi cation (PID) Account and obtain a Premises Identification Number (PID). You will now be required to provide your PID when you purchase livestock products at retailers. The PID number identifies premises where poultry are located. The Premises Identification Number is helpful in:• Tracing animals• Effectively managing a disease outbreak• Responding to a natural disaster• Notifying animal owners in emergencies.There is no fee for a PID; however, you must apply within 30 days of acquiring ownership of an animal (chicken)."

That is all that is stated, without references to size of flocks or purpose of the flock.

Is anyone aware of this PID? I'm not a tinfoil-hat kind of guy, but dislike registries and records the government has on absolutely everything I do. I'll keep researching this, including what consequences are in place for those who *ahem* forget to apply for a PID.

My formal answer is going to be that by law, if you have chickens you need to get a PID number

If you buy your chickens or chicks from a hatchery or from a farmer that is up to code, and you don't have a current PID account or number, you will get the paperwork registered and supplied to you with the chicks..

Ask me how I know this? because that is what happened to me LOL. I ordered in chicks from the big local hatchery and with the chicks came their blue butcher code paperwork that allowed me to get them butchered in the provincial plants as legal chickens and the paperwork that registered my farm with a id number that I own chickens.

You might also want to look into your provincial regs in regards to the laws of what you can and can not do about chickens outside, in the province of ontairo, no wild birds can have contact in any way with your farm birds, this means 100% indoor or indoor-outdoor full netting over the outdoor area with fencing so small that even a sparrow can't get though etc. Everyone who fresh ranges their birds.. opps.

In our neck of the woods, if your hen goes broody and hatches chicks, you need to fill out paperwork and register them in order to make them legal and send them to be butchered..

If you buy your birds from a local bird sale, then it depends on what you are buying, some birds are just pay and go, other birds require you to have a certain level of permit before you can even bid on them, to date, laying hens are in the buy an go.

Having said that, sales are tricky, its hit and miss in a big way unless you get there early, know how to check the birds in the cage (bring a flashlight and do a overall health check on them visually)

Having said that, find your local feed stores, and ask them who they are bringing their chicks in from, if its this one, great, if not.. research time on who they are bringing in from. Also check the boards at the feed store, if there is a local lady or ladies that hatch for laying chick sales, they will be on the board.

Now as for the last one, what happens if you don't register, well, look the answer up for your area, but typically there are fines but first they tend to work with folks and give you the number and inform you of the rules etc.

Part of the reason for the numbers is because we have been having outbreaks of the Avian flu, this means that they will lock down areas and if you are within X amount of the outbreak, all birds are required to be killed, if you are y amount of distance from the outbreak, all birds are required to do on premise lockdown for x amount of time.. and they lock down whole sections, no birds or eggs in or out.. no bird shows, no bird sales.

Part of the reason I got all my own hatching equipment as have a number of other local ladies, is because three times now, we have ordered and counted on chicks, ducklings, turkey pullet and Goslings, only to that the breeders, and or hatchery get in a lock down zone and suddenly a whole years planning Poof! gone and then the prices on the non-locked down zone babies are 3 to 8x higher per babe.. because if the market can bear it, they will charge it.

That is why I know overwinter small breeding programs of all my required fowl to breed my own, its a backup for not if but when this happens again..